As a hybrid finance protocol, Yanda has aroused the curiosity of important investors during these five years of activity. As a result, they decided to give Yanda their trust and invest in the project.
The first investor who had faith in Yanda was Startup Yard, a seed accelerator based in Prague, Czech Republic, which is part of the global accelerator network (GAN), a community of independent accelerators since 2011. The Startup Yard’s program, also available remotely, offers a fast-paced 30 hours business and fundraising program for pre & early revenue Deep Tech startups with the primary goal of raising $1m in funding. It uses business development connections in the sector, customer acquisition, and monetizing strategies, and personal introductions to business angels and VCs to help companies develop. The program also offers a guaranteed €20k as a convertible note with the option for higher investment while providing over €1m perks and benefits to help push early startups to the next level. Startup Yard invested in Yanda for the first time in 2018, and then it made a follow-up investment in 2020.
Another essential investor who believed in the project was Flori Ventures, which decided to support Yanda in 2021. Flori Ventures is a seed-stage fund and a portfolio of startups part of the Celo ecosystem and believes in collective power and a community first-approach, using financial innovation and investment to strengthen the relationship. It invests in great individuals with a vision aligned with the company’s values, enjoying doers that will create value for the entire Celo ecosystem.
The company is an advisor and partner with Celo camp, a collaboration that empowers the entities while keeping them independent. Celo is a proof of stake (PoS), EVM-compatible, open-source crypto platform governed by its asset owners. This collaboration aims to help the community of founders build their company while benefiting from the interconnected Celo ecosystem.
The Startup Pathway by Celo Camp is a program that provides funding to help develop and build a blockchain project. It aims to foster and develop as an entrepreneur, learning how to launch and scale a project with the help of leaders in the crypto sectors and developers and designers. In addition, the project aims to connect companies with committed people who can make an impact with the final goal of prospering together.
The duration of the camp is eight weeks, with each week focusing on different aspects of the project, including a week for user research and finding PMG, users’ journey, building and integrating, going to market, launching and acquiring early users, and finishing off with a pitch and a community week. In addition, the incubator offers funding, mentorship, a network, and other perks while rewarding the camp winners with $10,000 cUSD, $5,000 for the runner-up, and $2,000 cUSD to five other participants. Yanda was the winner of the Celo Startup Pathway 2021.
Big Brain Holdings and Outlier Venture(O.V.) decided to believe in Yanda in 2022.
The first one is a crypto-exclusive fund investing in pre-seed, seed, and early-stage projects. The fund focuses on innovative, unique, and cutting-edge projects by providing long-term partnerships and investing in growth with various benefits. The fund has invested in over 200 projects, with the total investment adding up to over $60M.
Big Brain Holding focuses on a whole range of different crypto investments, ranging from Metaverse to NFT and gaming to Decentralized Finance (DeFi) projects. The fund invests in top crypto projects such as Solana, the Graph, Polkadot, and Near while supporting a long list of projects spanning several blockchains, including Solana, Ethereum, Algorand, and Celo.
Thanks to participation in the Polkadot base camp, also O.V. decided to invest in Yanda. The Polkadot ecosystem traction plan aims to compress two years of development in just 12 weeks, providing everything needed to build, navigate and connect to the larger Polkadot and Kusama ecosystem. Polkadot, also known as the “internet of blockchains,” offers the ability to launch your chain, known as para-chain, where both tokens and arbitrary data can be transferred. The ecosystem is currently the second largest after Ethererum and offers many other ways to build on Polkadot besides the para-chains. The program is launched in collaboration with Outlier Venture, which means that access to the whole ecosystem will be provided while benefiting from the infrastructure and in-house expertise.
O.V. is a leading open metaverse startup accelerator. Its program offers more than just funding, giving access to in-house express that helps with initial fundraising, business model testing, scaling up (operations and tech), tokenomics, or any significant challenges you will face as a Web3 startup. It’s a 3-months accelerator program with access to in-house operational, legal, commercial, marketing, and token model support, as well as $100,000 in funding and an optional $30,000 interest-free repayable loan to help with legal costs; as well as a network of investors in DeFi, Web3, and the Open Metaverse space. In return, O.V. will receive 6% in equity and 6% in future token supply, an option to invest at a discount during the subsequent funding round, and the repayment of the initial loads out of the fundraising proceeds once the round is closed.
The last investor who had faith in Yanda was Cogitent Ventures. It promotes the growth of the global economy by investing intellectual and financial capital in emerging companies within any field, with particular emphasis on the world of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, and disruptive technologies. In addition, it believes in financial wealth and security; for this reason, Yanda was the choice.
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